Wire-tying machine



FEE}, 17,.W25. 1,526,772 F. L. CHAPMAN, JR

WIRE TYING MACHINE Filed Oct. 12 .1922 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 F. 11.. CHAPMAN, JR

WIRE TIING MACHINE Filed Oct. 12, 192E 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Feb. 17, 1925. 1,526,772

F. L. CHAPMAN, JR

WIRE TYING MACHINE Filed Oct. 12. 1932 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Feh- 17,, 1925.

1,526,772 F. L. CHAPMAN, JR

WIRE TYING MACHINE Filed Oct. 12. 1922 wired by the machine.

Patented Feb. 17, 1925.

a UNITED STATES 1,526,772 PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK L. CHAPMAN, 33., 0F GEEOAGO, ILLINO IS, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE AS- SIGNMENTS, TO ALEX, J. GERRABD, 0F GIGERO; ILLINOIS.

WIBE-TYING momma Application filed 0mm 12, 1922. Serial No. 593,969.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK L. CHAP- MAN, .Jr., a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of-Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in a Wire- Tying Machine, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to wire-tying machines, and is particularly concerned with the provision of an improved portable machine adapted for efficiently tying together under tension the ends of wires looped around packages of various sizes.

The principal object of the invention resides in the provision of a machine of the character described embodying several improved features in the construction and operation of the mechanism for positioning, tensioning, twisting and cutting the wire portions.

While the foregoing statement is indicative of the nature of thepresent in ention, numerous advantageous features of the same will be appreciated upon a further understanding of the machine as described in the following specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawings. One particular embodiment of the invention is set forth for the purpose of exemplification, but it will of course be understood that the invention is capable of incorporation in slightly different structural modifications coming fairly within the scope of the appended claims.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the machine, showing it placed upon a package and operatively associated with a wire to be secured under tension about the package;

Fig. 2 is a. side elevation of the machine;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the same:

Fig. 4 is a vertical section on the line 4-4-of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary section on the line 5-5 of Fig. 1: and

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic side view of one of the fingers 63.

It will be observed, upon a detailed inspection of the several views presented in the drawings, that the machine of this invention is of the so-called portable or handtool type adapted to be placed upon the upper surface of the package which is to be 7 The inachine consists primarily of a frame 10, wire-tensiom studs 18 carried by the base portion 14 at corresponding points adjacent the spaced rearcorners thereof, and their free ends 19 are adapted, upon actuation, to movearcuately away from each other in a longitudinal plane parallel to the general plane of the flat base portion. Each of the free ends 19 of the arms is provided with wire-gripping means of any approved type, the same being shown in the present exemplification of the invention 'as' a pair of coacting upper and lower spring-pressed jaws 20 slidably mounted in converging guide channels 21. Each pair of jaws 20 is adapted to gripthe extremity 22 of one of the two overlapped end portions 23 of a wire looped around a package 24: to be wired.andisprovided.adjacent the nose portions of the jaws, with a forwardly spring-pressed plunger 25 which is carried by the arm and projects in the path of movement of the pair of jaws whereby to maintain the same in spaced relation to permit the insertion therebetween of the wire extremity 22 which. upon being inserted, presses the plunger 25 back into an inoperative position. The means for operating the arms 16 to further separate the wiregripping means and thereby lace the looped wire under any desired tension comprises a hand-lever 26 which is secured at its lower end to a stub-shaft 27 journalled in abracket 28 positioned on the fiat portion 14 of the machine frame intermediate the pivotstuds 18. At a point equidistant to both lever arms 16 the stub-shaft 27 has secured thereto a short lever 29 which pivotally connects at its upper free end with-a flat link 30. The link 30 is in turn connected to the lever arms '16 at points spaced from their pivotal axes by rigid rods 31 whereby to constitute with the link 30 and the actuating means therefor a toggle joint for further separating the wire-gripping means. By the employment of a toggle joint in this connection the slack in the looped wire'is speedily taken up and any desired tension easily placed upon the wire with an increasing mechanical leverage which is obviously most advantageous under the circumstances resent in the tensioning'of a wire looped a out a package. In order to prevent accidental return movement of the lever arms 16 upon a the hand-lever 26 being released, a locking pressed engagement with the segment, and a plunger 34 extending lengthwise of the hand-lever and adapted, upon being depressed, to trip the pawl out of its locking engagement with the segment.

The wire-twisting mechanism 12 comprises primarily a rotatable pinion 35 formed on either side with concentric bosse 36 which are journalled in the upright portion 15 of the machine frame just above the front central part of the fiat base portion 14. The pinion and bosses are slotted from end to end, as is usual in wire-tying machines of this type. to receive the overlapped end portions 23 of the wire. In order to permit the insertion of the end portions 23 side by side in the pinion 35, that part of the frame portion 15 encompassing the pinion and its mounting is provided with a horizontally disposed slot 37 extending from the front of the frame portion 15 rearwardly to a point just beyond the axis of the pinion. The means for rotating the pinion consists of a vertically disposed train of intermeshing gears 38, 39 and 40; the uppermost gear being secured to one end of a short shaft 41 on the other end of which is provided an operating handcrank 42. The ratio of the gears and the length of the hand-lever are such as to effect with ease the twisting of the overlapped wire portions. the twisting pinion in the present embodiment of the invention making four revolutions in a forward and downward direction to three revolutions of the hand-crank in a forward and upward direction. The train of gears mentioned is advantageously encased in a housing formed of two complementary sections '43 which constitute the upright portion 15 of the main frame. A. handle 44 is provided at the topof'the housing, and serves as'a meansfor steadying the machine either when the hand-lever 26 is being used in tensioning the wire or when the hand-crank 42 is being used in twisting the wire.

In order to insure that the overlapped wire portions 23 remain in the. slot of the twisting pinion 35 during its rotation, the

bosses 36 on both sides of the pinion turn in bearings formed as sleeves 45 which hook-shaped members 46 provided with short forwardly and upwardly extending arms 47 connected at their free ends with a horizontal tie-rod 48 by means of which the members 46 and their associated bearing sleeves may he tilted about the'axis of the sleeves. The sleeves 45 and members 46 are provided with a forwardly facing horizontal aperture 49 which is adapted, when the members 46 are tilted forwardly, to align with the slot 37 in the frame of the machine, and, when the members are tilted upwardly, to close the slot 37 and prevent movement of the wire portions 43 out of the slot of the twisting pinion 35. This construction is clearly shown in Fig. 5; the members 46 being shown in their open position in full lines, and in their closed position in dotted lines. The members 46 .arepressed forwardly into their open position by means of springs 50 acting on guide rods 51 between guide blocks 52 for the rods located on the upright portion 15 of the machine frame and thrust blocks 53 carrying the rods and pivotally attached to the horizontal tie-rod e xteriorly 'of the arms 47. Upon the members 46 being tilted upwardly to their closed position, pivoted catches 54 hook over the tie rod 48 and hold the members in their closed position against return movement. The catches 54 are automatically caused to release the tie-rod 48 to permit the members 46 to return to their open position at the end of the wire-twisting operation when the twisting pinion has made four revolutions. The means for effecting this automatic, release includes two cams 55 which are mounted on axial extensions of the shaft 56 on which the gear 38 is mounted. The shaft 56 makes one revolution during the complete twisting operation of the pinion 35, and. just as the twisting is being completed, the cams 55 depress riders 57 on'the catches and thereby elevate the catches into positions in which they release the tie-rod 48. One of the guide project toward the pinion from two spaced rods 51 for the springs 50 serves a further purpose as the means for holding a pivotally mounted pawl 58 out of locked engagement with an arcuate recess 59 in a disk.60 on the shaft 41 of the hand-crank 42. The

-drawn from the pensates for the natural reflex of the strained metal of the wire portions and permits the twisted portions to then be withinion and frame slots without binding w lien the pinion reverses to its originalposition with its slot in horizontal alignment with the slot of the machine frame. The amount of additional twist imparted by the pinion 35 is readily adjustable by means of a set-screw 62 which is carried by the pawl 58 and acts against one extremity of the recess '59.

The means for preventing the overlapped wire portions 23 from being twisted together in either direction beyond the points desired consists of two forwardly projecting fingers 63 which are located on opposite sides of the wire-twisting pinion at points spaced therefrom. The wire is inserted in the mechanisms of the machine with the wire portions near the extremities 22 placed above the fingers 63 and the wire portions removed from the extremities 22 placed below the fingers, whereby the fingers serve to separate the overlapped wire portions 23 at points spaced from the twisting pinion and prevent intertwisting of the wire portions beyond those points' The wire-cutting mechanism 13 for removing the excess wire at points closely adjacent the ends of the twistedvsection comprises two cutters 64 which are p-ivotally mounted to the machine frame at the bases of the fingers 63. The cutters preferably straddle the fingers 63 and, upon being actuated, shear downwardly across the upper edges of the fingers along the sides thereof towards the twisting pinion to cut the excess wire portions away that are gripped in the wire-tensioning jaws 20. The cutters 64 are actuated in their cutting movement by cams 65 which are mounted, like the cams 55, on the shaft 56. The cutters are normally held in their elevated positions by the action of leaf springs 66, and are forced downwardly by the cams 65 to shear the wire portions at the completion of the wire-twisting operation;

The operation of the machine of this invention may be summarized-as follows:

The machine is placed upon a package24 to be wired, one extremity of the wire to be used is gripped in the lefthand pair of jaws 20 and the body of the wire fed over the lefthand finger 63, through the slot in the wiretwisting pinion 35, under the righthand finger 63,'passed about the package, then under the lefthand finger 63, again through the twisting pinion 35, over the righthand finger 63, and into gripped engagement with the righthand pair of jaws 20. The stationary handle 44 at the top of the machine may then be gripped with the right hand and the hand-lever 26 drawn forwardly and upwardly to further separate the lever arms 16 and accordingly place the looped wire under the desired tension, the handle 44 serving to steady the machine against the tendenc of the machine to tilt forwardly through the forward and upward movement of the hand-lever 26. Upon the looped wire having received the desired amount of tension,

the tie-rod 48, which moves the hook-shaped wire-retaining members 46, is pressed upwardly and backwardly into the closed position of the members 46, the members being then looked in their closed position by the catches 54. As the wire-twisting mechanism is prevented by the locking pawl 58 from commencing its operation until the wireretaining members have been tilted to their closed position, the wire-portions 23 passing'through the twisting pinion are assured of being in their proper positions therein at the commencement of and during the twisting operation. The stationary handle 44 may then be gripped with the left hand and the hand-crank 42 given three revolutions in aforward and upward direction which serves to effect, through the pinion 35,the

twisting operation upon the overlapped wire portions 23. At substantially the completion of the wire-twisting operation the catches 54 automatically release the tie-rod 48 and permit the wire-retaining members 46 to return to their open position; the pawl 58 automaticallyengages in the recess 59 in the disk 60 to limit rotation of the crank handle beyond the desired additional rotation serving to set the twisted port-ion as previously described; and the cutters 64 automatically swing downwardly to sever the wire portions at the extremities of the twisted section, this action of the cutters preferably occurring just before the completion of the wire-twisting mechanism in order to place the cut ends neatly on the under side of the twisted portion. The machine may now be withdrawn rearwardly over the surface of the package from its engagement with the now completed 100p of wire.

I'claim:

1. In a machine of the character described, wire-twisting mechanism, spaced wire-tensioning members located on opposite sides of the wire-twisting mechanism and adapted to engage with the overlapped end portions of a wire looped around a package, pivoted means to move each of said members arcuately away from the wire-twisting mechanism whereby to place the looped wire under tension in proper association with the wire-twisting mechanism, and separate bers dispose 2. In a machine of the character de-.

scribed, wire-twisting mechanism, and wiretensioning mechanism comprising spaced members adapted to engage with the overlapped end portions of a w re looped around a acka e an operating lever, and a toggle coiinecti ni between the members and the lever for further separating the members upon movement of the lever in one direction.

-3. In a machine of the character described, wire-twisting mechanism; and wiretensioning mechanism comprising spaced pivotally mounted members provided adjacent their free ends with wire-grppin jaws adapted to engage with the overlappe end portions of a wire looped around a package, a pivotally mounted operating lever, and a toggle connection between the members and the lever for further separating the members upon movement of the lever in one direction.

4. In a machine of the character described. Wire-twisting mechanism; and wiretensioning mechanism comprising spaced pivotally mounted members provided adjacent their free ends with wire-gripping aws adapted to engage with the overlapped end portions of a wire looped around a package, a pivotally mounted operating lever for further separating the members upon movementof the lever in one direction, and means serving to hold the lever against movement in the other direction during the operation of the wire-twisting mechanism.

5. In a machine of the character described, wire-twisting mechanism comprising a slotted pinion adapted to receive two overlapped portions of a looped wire, members disposed on opposite sides of the pinion for preventing the portions of wire from being intertwisted at points other than between the members upon rotation of the pinion; and pivoted hook means supporting said pinion interposed between the members for retaining the portions of wire in the slot of the pinion during the rotation of the same. a

6. In a machine of the character described, wire-twisting mechanism comprising a slotted pinion adapted to receive two overlapped ortions of a looped wire, memon opposite sides of the pinion for preventing the portions of wire from being intertwisted at points other than be: tween the members upon rotation of the pinion; hook means supporting said pinionv interposed between the members for retaining the portions of wire in the slot of the pinion during the rotation of the same, and means for automatically rendering inoperative said hook means upon the completion of the wire-twisting operation.

7. In a machine of the character described, wire twisting mechanism comprising a slotted pinion adapted to receive two overla ped portions of a looped wire; members ii'posed on the o posite sides of the inion or preventing t e portions of wire rom bein lntertwisted at points other than between t e members upon rotation of the pinion; hook means interposed between'the members for retaining the portions of wire in the slot of the same; means for automatically rendering inoperative said hook means upon the completion of the wire twisting operation; and means whereby said hook means serve in their inoperative position to control the operation of the wire twisting mechanism.

In a machine of the character described, the combination of a wire twisting mechanism comprising a slotted pinion adapted to receive two overlapping portions of a looped wire; a slotted member rigid y of the pinion during the rotation with the machine frame and adapted to re- I ceive said overlapped wires; mounted hook means adapted with said slotted member and the portions of wire placed pinion, thereby retaining said portions of wire in the pinion during the rotation of the same; and connections by which said hook means control the operation of the twisting pinion.

9. In a machine of thecharacter described, the combination ofwire twisting mechanism comprising a slotted pinion adapted to receive two overlapped portions of a looped wire; a pivotally mounted hook means adapted .in cooperation with the slotted portion of the machine frame to encompass the portions of wire placed within the pinion, thereby retaining the portions of wire in the pinion during the rotation of the same; means to automatically move said hook means into an inoperative position upon the completion of the wire twisting operation; and connections by which said hook means control the operation of the twisting pinion.

10. In a machine of the character depivotally to cooperate to encompass within the scribed wire twisting mechanism comprising a slotted pinion adapted to receive two overlapped portions of a looped wire. two

spaced pivotally mountedhooks controlling matically moved into inoperative positions upon the completion of the wire-twisting operation.

11. In ,a machine of the character described, the combination of a frame; a wire twistin mechanism; hook means for bolding sai wire in said twisting mechanism; a wire tensioning mechanism; a lever pivotally mounted on the frame for operating one of said mechanisms; a vertically disposed handle carried rigidly by the frame adjacent the upper portion thereof for preventing the frame from tilting about its base upon the operation of said lever; and connections by which said hook means control the operation of the twisting pinion.

12. In a machine of the character described, the combination of a wire twisting mechanism comprising a slotted pinion adapted to receive two overlapped portions of a looped wire; hook means comprising a longitudinally slitted rotatable sleeve forming a bearing for the pinionand adapted upon rotation to close the outer portion of the slot therein, thereby properly positioning the overlapped wire portions at the commencement of the twisting operation; and connections by which said hook means control the operation of the twisting pinion.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name.

FREDERICK L. CHAPMAN, JR; 

